Gradius V Walkthrough :

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Walkthrough - FAQ/Walkthrough

Page 1

Gradius V FAQ
by Webapprentice
with major contributions by Jason (kendarin_bloodtear@yahoo.com)
and other contributions (listed in the FAQ as you read)
FAQ VERSION 2.4
LAST UPDATE: 12/09/2005
Changelist:
Contribution from Totoroslayer about how points are accumulated.
See flight tips section.
----------------
You can find this FAQ at the following places:
gamefaqs.com (I do the first update here)
faq.ign.com
Anybody else carrying this is doing so without permission!
AUTHOR: Webapprentice (Stephen)
CONTACT: clowwizarderiol@gmail.com
I will accept corrections and additional information,
and you will be credited if you are the first to submit your information.
I don't want to have to do this all alone. =)
Please be courteous and write decently in your emails. Do not flame me.
Email in all uppercase or all lowercase will be ignored.
----------------
The document is to be considered free of cost. It cannot be included
as part of a commercial transaction (i.e. sold) or bundled with
another product as a freebie.
All copyrights and trademarks are acknowledged and respected that
are not specifically stated in this document. The FAQ author does not
seek to challenge those copyrights with this FAQ.
Gradius V is copyrighted by Konami and Konami Computer Entertainment
Tokyo (1985-2004). This FAQ is not affliated with Konami in any way.
Gradius V FAQ - Unpublished Work Copyright 2004
----------------
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Intro [0_intro]
Controls [1_control]
Menu [2_menu]
Basic Weapon Array Types [3_baseweap]
Multiples [4_multiples]
Weapon Edit List [5_weapedit]
Ship's Hit Box [6_hitbox]
Flight Tips [7_flight]
Demo [8_demo]
Stage 1 [9_stg1]
--Very Easy [9_stg1_ve]
--Very Hard [9_stg1_vh]
Stage 2 [10_stg2]
--Very Easy [10_stg2_ve]
--Very Hard [10_stg2_vh]
Stage 3 [11_stg3]
--Very Easy [11_stg3_ve]
--Very Hard [11_stg3_vh]
Stage 4 [12_stg4]
--Very Easy [12_stg4_ve]
--Very Hard [12_stg4_vh]
Stage 5 [13_stg5]
--Very Easy [13_stg5_ve]
--Very Hard [13_stg5_vh]
Stage 6 [14_stg6]
--Very Easy [14_stg6_ve]
--Very Hard [14_stg6_vh]
Stage 7 [15_stg7]
--Very Easy [15_stg7_ve]
--Very Hard [15_stg7_vh]
Stage 8 [16_stg8]
--Very Easy [16_stg8_ve]
--Very Hard [16_stg8_vh]
Additional Loops / Higher Difficulties [17_loop_diff]
Secrets [18_secrets]
Soundtrack [19_ost]
Credits [20_credits]
[0_intro]
Introduction
Gradius is Konami's venerable space fighter shooting series.
Gradius V continues that tradition. While Konami is the publisher
and rights owner of the series, they wisely let Treasure develop this game.
Treasure's influence is very apparent to the savvy gamer. The graphical
quality and style is somewhat reminiscent of Ikaruga. If you
look at the fonts in the config screen, they look a lot like the
ones in Ikaruga. Likewise, even some sound effects will also
harken back to Ikaruga. Big mid-boss and boss explosions
typical Treasure's stylistic trademarks.
This guide is a basic guide. I'm no shooting expert, so this guide
does not help you optimize your scoring. This guide is for the
casual gamers just looking to survive. (heh) The stage descriptions will
offer highlights that the player will want to know, but since I cannot
describe where every enemy is going to appear, you will have better
luck searching the web for people who recorded videos of themselves
playing or who drew sketches of the stages.
This FAQ is primarily written on the Very Easy level of difficulty.
Jason (kendarin_bloodtear@yahoo.com) contributed information for
the very hard level of difficulty. Some things will be different
at higher difficulty levels, so this FAQ cannot describe everything.
You must practice to do well in the game.
[1_control]
Controls
These controls are changeable in the config menu.
Control Pad or Left Analog: Control the Vic Viper.
X: Fire bullets and missiles. Bullets fire more often than missiles.
O: Activate the currently highlighted power-up
R1: Multiple Control (use the alternate multiple control scheme)
You must hold down R1 to continue using the alternate multiple
control scheme.
Start: Pause game
L1 + L2 + R1 + R2 + Select + Start: Soft Reset (No saving is done)
[2_menu]
Menu
Game Start: Start the game from the beginning
Stage Select: Once you clear a section of a stage, it is unlocked
for stage select. You can go back to any section you have passed and
practice. Free play (unlimited credits) is active during this.
Once you reach the end of the unlocked sections or the end of
the stage, the game ends.
Score Attack: This is used to build up a high score. Konami
has/had a contest for high scorers. You will be given a password
at the end of score attack that you can enter on their website.
Go to the website http://www.konami.com/gradius5 and click on
the "official site" image link to open a pop-up window to the
score attack site. Score Attack is set to normal difficulty.
Ranking: See the score rankings on the game itself. You can view
scores by difficulty.
Config: Change the sound, game difficulty, starting player stock
per credit, extend, revival start, and button control scheme.
You can assign almost any button to any of the button actions.
(L3, R3, Select, and Start are excluded)
Save/Load: Save and load games as well as toggle auto-save.
Activating Auto-Save will cause the game to save when you leave
the main menu and at the end of your game.
Exit: Go back to the title screen.
[3_baseweap]
Basic Weapon Array Types
The weapons in the array go from left to right. As you collect
power-ups, the border of the power up will be highlighted.
Getting the first power capsule highlights the first power up.
The 2nd power capsule you collect without dying highlights the
second power-up instead and so forth. To reach the ? power-up
at the right requires collecting six power capsules without dying.
With the exception of Multiple and Force Field, once you activate
a power-up, you cannot activate it again until you die. The empty
slot remains there, however, so you must still traverse the weapon
array normally. In a 1-player game, you can have a max of 4
multiples. The Force Field power-up will become available once the
current Force Field is exhausted.
If you die and had something in the weapon array highlighted, the
highlight resets to the first one.
Sometimes, an enemy will drop a blue power-up capsule. This
is the Mega Crush. Grabbing it will destroy all small enemies on
the screen and clear all enemy bullets, spheres, and lasers
from the screen.
When you start a game, you can choose 1 of 4 weapon array types.
Type 1
Speed Up | Missile | Double | Laser | Multiple (Freeze) | ?
Speed Up: Speeds up the ship one level. You can speed up the Vic
Viper five times. If you use Speed Up a sixth time, the Vic Viper
returns to its original speed.
Missile: Shoots a missile that travels at a 45-degree angle downward in
front of the ship. Once the missile reaches the ground, the missile will
travel along the ground until it hits an object, falls into a pit,
or has travelled a certain distance. This missile will go downhill but
not uphill.
Double: Shoots a regular ship bullet at a 45-degree angle upward
in front of the ship in addition to your regular forward bullet.
Combined with missile, and you have decent coverage above and below your
ship.
Laser: Shoots a long, set-length laser.
Multiple (Freeze): Create an orange oval-shaped shadow that shoots the
same weapons as your ship. The multiples will trail your ship
like a serpent. Holding down R1 will lock the multiples in place.
This will allow you to set up and keep a particular formation
for your multiples.
Force Field: This creates a force field around your ship that will absorb
3 bullets. It'll stop a laser hit, but it doesn't absorb it, so you
do need to get out of the way before the laser registers more hits. The
Force Field does not protect you from collisions with enemy ships,
the landscape, or other environmental hazards.
Type 2
Speed Up | Two-Way Missile | Tailgun | Laser | Multiple (Direction) | ?
Speed Up: Speeds up the ship one level. You can speed up the Vic
Viper five times. If you use Speed Up a sixth time, the Vic Viper
returns to its original speed.
Two-Way Missile: Shoots two missiles where one travels upward at a
45-degree angle in front of your ship while the other travels downward
at a 45-degree angle in front of your ship. Once the missiles reach the
ground, they stop. Therefore, you have to be on-target with these missiles.
Tailgun: Shoots a regular ship bullet directly behind the ship in addition
to your regular forward bullet. This is good for hitting enemies and objects
coming from the rear.
Laser: Shoots a long, set-length laser that's a little thinner than
the type 1 laser. It seems a little weaker than the type 1 laser, but I
cannot confirm. Your multiples, however, will shoot a continuous laser.
Multiple (Direction): Create an orange oval-shaped shadow that shoots the
same weapons as your ship. The multiples will trail your ship
like a serpent. Holding down R1 will lock your ship and multiples in place.
While holing R1, rotate the control pad to change the multiples' direction
of fire in 360-degrees (!). You can hit anything at any angle.
If you have lasers, your multiples will shoot a continuous laser. As you
fly up and down, the multiples' laser stream will curve a little up or down
depending on the direction. Use the direction ability and you can direct
their lasers all over the place like a water hose or a particle thrower. heh
Force Field: This creates a force field around your ship that will absorb
3 bullets. It'll stop a laser hit, but it doesn't absorb it, so you
do need to get out of the way before the laser registers more hits. The
Force Field does not protect you from collisions with enemy ships,
the landscape, or other environmental hazards.
Type 3
Speed Up | Eagle Wind Missile | Tailgun | Laser | Multiple (Spacing) | ?
Speed Up: Speeds up the ship one level. You can speed up the Vic
Viper five times. If you use Speed Up a sixth time, the Vic Viper
returns to its original speed.
Eagle Wind Missile: When your ship is in the upper half of the screen, missiles
are fired upward at a 45-degree angle in front of your ship. When your ship
is in the lower half of the screen, missiles are fired downward at a 45-degree
angle in front of your ship. Once the missile reaches the ground, the missile
will travel along the ground until it hits an object, falls into a pit,
or has travelled a certain distance. This missile will go downhill but
not uphill. This missile has the same strength as the regular missile.
[Correction by Morgasaurus and MT3000 at Gamefaqs]
Tailgun: Shoots a regular ship bullet directly behind the ship in addition
to your regular forward bullet. This is good for hitting enemies and object
coming from the rear.
Laser: Shoots a long, set-length laser.
Multiple (Spacing) : Create an orange oval-shaped shadow that shoots the
same weapons as your ship. The multiples will stay above and below your
ship (first one appears above, second one below, etc.) and stay in this
formation. Press and hold down R1 will make the multiple spacing widen further
until a certain point. If you press and hold R1 again, the multiple spacing
will shrink until a certain point. (Think of it as analog distance adjustment)
When you have 4 multiples, they fly in a small V-like formation.
Force Field: This creates a force field around your ship that will absorb
3 bullets. It'll stop a laser hit, but it doesn't absorb it, so you
do need to get out of the way before the laser registers more hits. The
Force Field does not protect you from collisions with enemy ships,
the landscape, or other environmental hazards.
Type 4
Speed Up | Two-Way Back Missile | Double | Laser | Multiple (Rotate) | ?
Speed Up: Speeds up the ship one level. You can speed up the Vic
Viper five times. If you use Speed Up a sixth time, the Vic Viper
returns to its original speed.
Two-Way Back Missile: Shoots two missiles where one travels upward at a
45-degree angle in back of your ship while the other travels downward
at a 45-degree angle in back of your ship. Once the missiles reach the
ground, they stop. Therefore, you have to be on-target with these missiles.
Double: Shoots a regular ship bullet at a 45-degree angle upward
in front of the ship in addition to your regular forward bullet.
Combined with missile, and you have decent coverage above and below your
ship.
Laser: Shoots a long, set-length laser that's a little thinner than
the type 1 laser. It seems a little weaker than the type 1 laser, but I
cannot confirm. Your multiples, however, will shoot a continuous laser.
Multiple (Rotate): Create an orange oval-shaped shadow that shoots the
same weapons as your ship. The multiples will trail your ship
like a serpent. Press and hold R1 will cause the multiples to rotate
counterclockwise around your ship at a set radius from your ship.
Press and hold R1 again to make the multiples rotate clockwise
around your ship at a set radius from your ship.
If you have lasers, your multiples will shoot a continuous laser. As you
fly up and down, the multiples' laser stream will curve a little up or down
depending on the direction. If you have two or more multiples with
lasers, you end up creating a sinusoidal laser wave when you rotate them.
Force Field: This creates a force field around your ship that will absorb
3 bullets. It'll stop a laser hit, but it doesn't absorb it, so you
do need to get out of the way before the laser registers more hits. The
Force Field does not protect you from collisions with enemy ships,
the landscape, or other environmental hazards.
Weapon Edit
-----------
When you get the Weapon Edit mode, press R1 at the weapon array select screen,
and you'll be able to create a weapon array based on present and past Gradius
games. Think of this as your Type 5 or custom weapon array.
[4_multiples]
Multiples
Multiples are an important strategic weapon in Gradius. Multiples are
indestructable and can pass through the landscape, so you can
strategically maneuver them into areas your ship can't
reach. This is useful to hit enemies in difficult spots or hit boss
cores that are well-protected.
Since multiples mimic your current weapons configuration
(except the ? weapon), it effectively increases your firepower.
When you die, any multiples you have stop where they are and begin to scroll
off the screen. If your revival start is turned off, your next ship will
appear on the screen almost immediately, and you can attempt to recover some
or all of your multiples.
The formation you choose is important to your playing strategy. Unless you
lose all your lives and continue, you cannot change the formation type,
so you have to find a formation that works for you through the entire game.
Freeze Multiples are versatile since you can set up a formation you like and
lock it in place. The downside is that you have to move your ship until
the multiples are in a formation you like. This is hard to do in tight
quarters.
Directional Multiples allow you to hit in 360 directions. You can hit
things in hard to reach places or cover your back. Unfortunately, your ship
and multiples can't move during this. This is useful when the stage
changes direction a lot.
Spacing Multiples are best in open space dogfights or areas with floors and
ceilings. They also help against enemy fighters traveling in line formations.
Rotating Multiples give you a wide forward attack, but since multiples cannot
absorb bullets they are useless as shields.
Depending on your weapon configuration, some formations will work better than
others in certain stages. Since you cannot change the formation unless
you continue, pick one that suits your playing style. Once weapon edit is
available, you can try more combinations of weapons and multiple formations.
[5_weapedit]
Weapon Edit List
You get Weapons Edit mode after you beat the game once. When you have this,
you can select the edit mode by pressing R1 at the weapon type select screen
right before you start the game. If you die in the game, you can choose one
of the four default weapon array types or select the weapon edit array you
chose at the beginning and edit it again with the control stick/control pad.
Missile Types (7 types!)
-------------
Missile: Shoots a missile that travels at a 45-degree angle downward in
front of the ship. Once the missile reaches the ground, the missile will
travel along the ground until it hits an object, falls into a pit,
or has travelled a certain distance. This missile will go downhill but
not uphill.
Eagle Wind Missile: When your ship is in the upper half of the screen, missiles
are fired upward at a 45-degree angle in front of your ship. When your ship
is in the lower half of the screen, missiles are fired downward at a 45-degree
angle in front of your ship. Once the missile reaches the ground, the missile
will travel along the ground until it hits an object, falls into a pit,
or has travelled a certain distance. This missile will go downhill but
not uphill. This missile has the same strength as the regular missile.
[Correction by Morgasaurus and MT3000 at Gamefaqs]
Two-Way Missile: Shoots two missiles where one travels upward at a
45-degree angle in front of your ship while the other travels downward
at a 45-degree angle in front of your ship. Once the missiles reach the
ground, they stop. Therefore, you have to be on-target with these missiles.
Two-Way Back Missile: Shoots two missiles where one travels upward at a
45-degree angle in back of your ship while the other travels downward
at a 45-degree angle in back of your ship. Once the missiles reach the
ground, they stop. Therefore, you have to be on-target with these missiles.
Spread Bomb: Shoot a bomb at a "45-degree angle" parabolic arc downward
in front of your ship. When it hits the ground, it explodes a large bluish
blast radius. This will destroy or damage surrounding enemies as well as the
target. Since the bomb does not travel along the ground, you have to be
on-target. The Spread Bomb is the strongest missile.
Photon Torpedo: This missile drops straight down from your ship. If you
are moving forward or backward, the bomb drops a little in front or behind
the ship (good physics engine!). This missile will travel along the ground
but when it hits an enemy or destroyable object, it will continue to travel
to hit enemies up ahead. This missile will go downhill but not uphill.
The photon torpedo has the same strength as a normal missile, but it has
the ability to plow through enemies.
Flying Torpedo: Shoots two missiles in front of your ship flying in parallel.
This acts like a twin forward shot but not as rapid.
Double Types (5 types)
------------
Double: Shoots a regular ship bullet at a 45-degree angle upward
in front of the ship in addition to your regular forward bullet.
Combined with missile, and you have decent coverage above and below your
ship.
Free Way: Your main shot fires forward while the second shot fires in the
direction of your controller as you fly. If you fly upwards, for example,
the second shot fires upwards. If you stop moving, the second shot will
fire in the last direction the ship was travelling.
Spread Gun: Shoots two shots, with one shot travelling
at a 45-degree angle upward in front of your ship and the other travelling
at a 45-degree angle downward in front of your ship. You have no forward
firing coverage unless you chose a missile that shoots forward. This weapon
is not very good against most bosses whose weak point is directly in front of
your ship.
Vertical: The second shot fire at a 90-degree angle above your ship.
Tailgun: Shoots a regular ship bullet directly behind the ship in addition
to your regular forward bullet. This is good for hitting enemies and objects
coming from the rear.
Laser Types (4 types)
-----------
Laser: Shoots a long, set-length laser.
Ripple: Shoots a ring-like laser that gives you wider firing coverage, but it
is weaker than the standard laser. The ripple laser starts small but widens
as it goes further out until it reaches a maximum width of about three Vic
Vipers stacked vertically. The advantage of this laser is that if an obstacle
of enemy destroys part of the ripple laser, the remaining parts can still
travel further. Combine this with 4 Multiples, and you can get tremendous
firing coverage. The ripple laser, at its widest, has a degree of
penetration. It's probably the most versatile laser.
E. Laser: Shoots a small blue plasma shot (think R-Type). Hold down the fire
for 2 seconds to charge the shot and fire a larger plasma shot
(again think R-Type). This laser type will also go through multiple enemies.
The laser is not wide despite the fireball-like shot, so it will go through
narrow areas (Bacterian core ships). It also has a modest blast radius when it
hits an object, damaging or destroying anything nearby. Think of it as a
shotgun laser. You will want to assign a different button for the rapid fire
action so you can fire regular E. Laser shots.
Please note that the laser aura created from charging does not destroy
enemies. You must fire the laser for it to hit anything.
This is the most powerful laser.
Fireblast: This is a flamethrower. It has a short range, but it is the second
most powerful laser, and hits a wider than a normal shot. Hold down the
attack button to keep the flamethrower going. It will go through enemies
and obstacles. Its range, however, is typically too short to be of much use.
When you fly up or down, the flame trail will drag along, so you can use
it in a sweeping motion.
Multiple Types (4 types)
--------------
Multiple (Freeze): Create an orange oval-shaped shadow that shoots the
same weapons as your ship. The multiples will trail your ship
like a serpent. Holding down R1 will lock the multiples in place.
This will allow you to set up and keep a particular formation
for your multiples.
Multiple (Direction): Create an orange oval-shaped shadow that shoots the
same weapons as your ship. The multiples will trail your ship
like a serpent. Holding down R1 will lock your ship and multiples in place.
While holing R1, rotate the control pad to change the multiples' direction
of fire in 360-degrees (!). You can hit anything at any angle.
If you have lasers, your multiples will shoot a continuous laser. As you
fly up and down, the multiples' laser stream will curve a little up or down
depending on the direction. Use the direction ability and you can direct
their lasers all over the place like a water hose or a particle thrower. heh
Multiple (Spacing) : Create an orange oval-shaped shadow that shoots the
same weapons as your ship. The multiples will stay above and below your
ship (first one appears above, second one below, etc.) and stay in this
formation. Press and hold down R1 will make the multiple spacing widen further
until a certain point. If you press and hold R1 again, the multiple spacing
will shrink until a certain point. (Think of it as analog distance adjustment)
When you have 4 multiples, they fly in a small V-like formation.
Multiple (Rotate): Create an orange oval-shaped shadow that shoots the
same weapons as your ship. The multiples will trail your ship
like a serpent. Press and hold R1 will cause the multiples to rotate
counterclockwise around your ship at a set radius from your ship.
Press and hold R1 again to make the multiples rotate clockwise
around your ship at a set radius from your ship.
If you have lasers, your multiples will shoot a continuous laser. As you
fly up and down, the multiples' laser stream will curve a little up or down
depending on the direction. If you have two or more multiples with
lasers, you end up creating a sinusoidal laser wave when you rotate them.
? Types (3 types)
-------
Mega Crush: This acts like a blue capsule. It will destroy all small and
medium-sized enemies and destroy all bullets and small destructable objects.
Force Field: This creates a force field around your ship that will absorb
3 bullets. It'll stop a laser hit, but it doesn't absorb it, so you
do need to get out of the way before the laser registers more hits. The
Force Field does not protect you from collisions with enemy ships,
the landscape, or other environmental hazards.
Shield: This puts two rotate "gears" or "ninja stars" in front of your ship.
This shield will absorb 3 enemy bullets, destroy 3 small ships, or 1 hit from
a laser weapon (you need to get out of the way quickly). It only provides
forward protection so getting hit from behind is bad. heh
[6_hitbox]
The Ship's Hit Box
I'm devoting a separate section for this, because it is key to your survival
in this game. Treasure has increased your survival rate by implementing a
smaller hit box on the Vic Viper, just as they did to the player ships in
Ikaruga. You can only be destroyed if a bullet or obstacle hits the
black cockpit window of your ship. Use this to your advantage to squeeze
by obstacles and ships.
However, if you are using the force field, your hit box is much bigger. The
hit box is nearly the entire ship, minus the nose and the rear engine.
This was probably done to offset the advantage of taking a few hits without
dying.
[7_flight]
Flight Tips
a)
Multiples are indestructable and can pass through the landscape, so you can
strategically maneuver them into areas your ship can't
reach. This is useful to hit enemies in difficult spots or hit boss
cores that are well-protected.
b)
Because of the 3-D backgrounds, it is sometimes hard to tell what objects will
destroy you and what won't. In addition, some ships fly from the background
and into your playing field, so it's hard to tell if you will die from a
collision. usually, ships that look like they are in the shadows compared
to the other brightly colored ships cannot hit you, nor can you hit them.
Overall, it is pretty much memorization.
c)
Some enemy ships will rotate as it flies. The larger ones have huge wingspans.
When one of the larger ship's wingspans are horizontal, you can sneak by them
by flying above or below them quickly.
d)
You cannot always stay on the left side of the screen. Some enemies will
approach from behind. In other stages, doors will close quickly and
STAY LOCKED, so you must move quickly.
e)
Force fields and shields protect you from lasers, but since a laser is a stream,
the hits will register quickly, so you need to get out of the way fast.
f)
If you manage to stay alive for a long time, an enemy ship dubbed the Multiple
Stealer (Option Thief) will appear. If the thief touches your Multiple, it will
take it away. I haven't seen this yet, since I die too quickly. heh
g)
Stages may have you going up, down, diagonally, and in reverse. Be prepared to
fight from all angles. Unfortunately, your ship always faces right. (What
kind of training do these Gradius pilots get in the flight academy?!)
h)
Red enemies will always leave power-ups when destroyed.
If you see 8 or more of the same small enemy ships travelling in formation
(usually a serpentine or line formation), there is a good chance that if
you destroy all the enemies in that formation, the last one you destroy
will leave a power-up capsule.
i)
If you destroy enemies quickly or slowly, the game may give you additional
enemies to shoot down for more points, or it may replace regular enemies
with red enemies and vice versa.
j)
If revival start is off, when your ship reappears after a death, a mega
crush is performed. This will clear the screen of small enemies and
destructable objects.
k)
Tapping the fire button creates a different firing pattern than just holding
it down.
l)
Bosses do not have to be destroyed. If you manage to survive a boss fight for
long enough (usually 3 minutes or more), the boss will leave on its own. You
get no points for this though.
m)
In a 2-player game, both ships must share a TOTAL of 4 multiples. Therefore,
if one ship has four multiples, the other ship cannot get any. Cooperate
with your teammate on how to best distribute the multiples.
n)
(Contributed by Totoroslayer)
The default shot is limited by how many shot "pellets" are on the screen (the
limit is I think 5 or so). Therefore, if you are close enough to the enemy
while you are firing, you never reach the shot "pellet" limit, and thus the
fire is continuous. This allows for more damage per second the closer you
get to the target.
This is true for the laser as well, except instead of a finite number of
pellets, it's a finite length limit. Therefore, if you close in on the
target, you will fire more laser shots. This is evident on the first boss.
In normal mode, if you have 3 options and the laser, and you get up close
to the gates and start firing as soon as it's vulnerable, you can blast
down the gates and the core, killing the boss before it starts rotating.
On the other hand, if you play back (on the left side of the screen),
you'll maybe get it to orange before it starts its crazy spin of death.
o)
(Contributed by Totoroslayer)
Score is awarded per enemy destroyed, not damaged dealt or number of
hits landed. Anything that you can destroy, except enemy ring bullets,
is worth points. This include the gates protecting the boss's core and
gates blocking your way. Also, while it might seem like you get a bonus for
killing entire "wave" of enemies, you do not.
[8_demo]
Demo
The demo only shows stage 1-1, but it offers you a basic insight
into the gameplay. The CPU plays perfectly. Too bad there
aren't more demos like they had in Ikaruga.
[9_stg1]
Stage 1
3 sections
[9_stg1_ve]
Very Easy Mode
The Bacterian forces have launched a sneak attack on one of
the Gradius space stations. All Gradius forces are to evacuate
the space station and counter attack. Vic Viper T301 engages the
invaders...START!
You are attacked by waves of small circular enemies. Destroying
an entire set of them will give you a capsule.
After this, small fighters flying in isolation or in vertical
formation will appear and attack. Destroying the red ones will
provide power-up capsules.
As you fly out of the space station and you can see space in the
background, the first Bacterian Core battle ship appears to
attack you. If you've played previous Gradius games,
you know what to do.
The Bacterian Core ship has 4 gates blocking its core. You must
destroy the gates and then destroy the core. The enemy ship will shoot
4 parallel lasers at you and then move up or down while rotating to try to
meet your horizontal level before shooting again.
If you destroy the Bacterian Core ship fast enough, [Correction by Derek
Williams], you can get up to five capital ships to appear (two, then one,
then two) for additional scoring opportunities. This can be done even with
one multiple and the laser.[/Derek Williams]. If you do not destroy the
Bacterian Core ship quickly enough, you will see less than 5 capital ships.
The fewest I've seen is 2 flying in parallel with a squadron of 20 small
fighters in the middle. Destroy all the fighters for a power-up capsule.
These are rectangular capital ship with turrets on the top and bottom
of it.
On harder difficulties, the turrets in these ships will fire at you.
To maximize scoring, destroy the turrets first.
Once you destroy the turrets, the Vic Viper can fly inside the
space they occupied to allow you more movement opportunities.
Eventually, you reach space and Vic Viper announces to base that
he is engaging the enemy.
Small three-ship squadrons and single ships will attack.
You will now enter sea of red planets with a black spot on each of them.
These planets are apparently called Zelos from the Salamander (Life Force)
games. The Zelos will grow in size to monstrous proportions and will
block your way in some cases. If you shoot at a Zelos rapidly, it will
shrink. Once it reaches a minimum size, it will begin to take damage,
continuing to shoot at it rapidly will eventually destroy it. If
you stop shooting at it at any time, it will begin to grow again.
While you are in this Zelos field, the stage is vertically wider than usual,
so you can go up and down about 2 screen heights.
While you are dodging of destroying Zelos planets, small enemy ships will
continue to attack you. In addition, there are large circular stations that
spit out little circular enemies in a fanning out pattern. You shold destroy
the stations as well as the enemies they produce. Be on the lookout for the
red circular enemies as they will leave a power capsule when destroyed.
After you clear the Zelos field, you will fight the boss. If you have
fought the stage 3 boss of Ikaruga, this boss should look familiar
in some ways.
The boss will materialize from out of nowhere and eventually enclose you.
Don't be in a position where the ring is or you will obviosuly be destroyed.
The boss is a large C-shaped ring with 6 rectangular firing bays attached to
the ring, 3 on the top, 3 on the bottom. At the unopened end of the ring
is a Bacterian Core. The core is protected by 4 gates.
The firing bays will shoot ring lasers at you. The ring lasers can be
destroyed by your shots. The core will fire electrical spheres that will
fan out. You cannot destroy these with your shots, so dodge them.
After a short time, you will see the core begin to fire two orange parallel
lasers, right above and below the path to the core. The lasers extend all the
way out. Once the lasers are fully extended, the entire boss will begin to
rotate clockwise. You will have to maneuver in the free space while the boss
is rotating. The boss will continue to fire electrical spheres and any
firing bays remaining continue to attack you.
You can either stay in between the orange lasers or stay above or below them.
Your best chance for survival is to take out as many firing bays as possible
before the first set of parallel orange lasers, so you have more breathing
room while the boss rotates.
Once the boss stops rotating, the core will deactivate the orange lasers,
and you can move more freely inside the ring. After a short time, however
the core will fire the orange lasers again and rotate faster.
Since the core is protected by gates, you need to destroy the gates before
you can hit the core. If you have 4 multiples, you can get one of them
shooting directly at the core, bypassing all the gates.
ALTERNATIVE: If you have multiples, as the the boss warps into the scene,
you can go the upper right or lower right part of the screen, which is
OUTSIDE the ring. The boss will be unable to attack you. You can position
your multiples to attack the core directly and skip the gates. As far as I
can tell, these areas outside the ring aren't safe spots, because you will
eventually get hit by the orange lasers as the boss rotates, so if you
choose this tactic, you better destroy the boss.
[9_stg1_vh]
Very Hard Mode by Jason (kendarin_bloodtear@yahoo.com)
The Bacterian Core ship moves faster. The pattern is still the same, but you
have less time to react.
The Zelos are much more numerous and will actually try to migrate towards
your ship instead of their random, erratic movement. This can be quite
dangerous as it's not uncommon to see six or seven of them clustering
around you. Add in the fact that they die in a sunburst of shots...
and you see why you need to keep moving.
The stage 1 boss has two cores, instead of one. The boss fires an
incredible amount of ring lasers, and when some of the firing bays
are destroyed, the remaining fire more lasers to compensate.
This can be very dangerous if only one firing bay is left.
The rate at which the boss rotates is cruelly fast. The orange lasers also
require much less time to charge.
[10_stg2]
Stage 2
5 sections
[10_stg2_ve]
Very Easy Mode
The stage starts off with you flying through space.
A formation of 8 small circular spinning enemies appear from the top. The
next set of 8 small circular spinning enemies appear at the bottom. The
third set of 8 small circular spinning enemies appear at the top. The
fourth set of 8 small circular spinning enemies appear at the bottom.
After that, 4 sets of 8 spinning H-shaped enemy ships fly horizontally
from the left in the background. Once they reach the right of the screen,
they will appear in the foreground and fly towards the left. They keep flying
horizontally on the same path they flew from before.
While these 4 sets attack, another 2 sets of enemy fighters appear from the
right travelling horizontally. In the background, another 4 sets of fighters
travel to the right and then turn around and appear in the foreground
travelling right.
Then, another 2 sets of fighters appear from the left in the foreground.
You have to be careful not to collide into enemy ships, since there are
a lot of them and they are also almost the same color as your ship.
After the last set disappears, you will be attacked by isolated enemy fighters
that will try to home in on your location, so destroy them or they will start
chasing you.
Eventually, a cutscene plays where Vic Viper encounters a space-time anomaly
and runs into a large Bacterian capital ship and the Vic Viper T301! You work
with your mirror to infiltrate the capital ship through one of two entry points
and destroy your corresponding eye.
You start approaching the rear of your entry point of the Bacterian capital
ship. Square-shaped enemies will materialize on the screen and try to home in
on you. Eventually, you reach the hatch of the ship. It doesn't take many
hits to destroy it.
You enter the hatch. There is now floor and a ceiling. Turrets are located
on the floor and ceiling. They fire small diamond-shaped shots that you
cannot destroy, so you have to be careful. After some turrets, you will see
large fighter domes that launch a small line of fighters at you. You should
try to destroy them. Some domes will flushed against walls, so you can't
destroy them without missiles, rear shots, or multiples. Continue to destroy
turrets and domes and you will go up a 45-degree upward tunnel to the right.
Both the left and right sides of the tunnel have fighter domes that launch
lines of fighters horizontally and then drop down at you. Take out the
fighters. The fighter domes placed on the left wall cannot be hit without
multiples, rear shots, or multiples.
When you reach the top, the tunnel will go right again, and you will also
see your mirror fighting in his section of the tunnel. The next section
of the path travels horizontally and is very narrow, so you have little
room to maneuver. Enemy turrets and fighter domes line the narrow path,
making your life difficult. Remember that you have a small hit box,
and use this to your advantage to avoid enemy fire! Forward-firing
missiles help to take out the turrets, and multiples take out the fighters
coming of the fighter domes. The tunnel is divided in half. You'll see
your mirror take out enemies in his own path while you attack enemies on
your path. If you can, position your multiples into your mirror's path
and help him take out some enemies. It'll be helpful later in the game.
The horizontal tunnel will then change to a 45-degree downward tunnel to the
right.
Small enemy pods will hop along the side walls in this tunnel, both above
and below you. Some will fire at you. If you leave them alone long
enough, they will stop momentarily to fire shots in 6 directions
around itself. At the bottom of the tunnel, the path becomes horizontal
again. Turrets and fighter domes line the floor and ceiling at the beginning
of the horizontal path, so destroy them quickly or rush through.
You'll fight more turrets on the floor and ceiling until a big round organic
cyclops monster obstructs your right side. It swings forward to you
from the ceiling with its two legs, while it shoots electrical spheres from
its eye in a spreading pattern. Attack the eye to destroy it.
After this, there are more turrets on the floor and ceiling, but another
big round organic cyclops monster appears from the left. Note that some
parts of the floor are lower than others. You need to fly your ship
underneath the cyclops monster as it swings over to the right, so you
can hit its eye. Destroy it fast.
Right after you destroy it, more enemy hopping pods come from the left.
At the end of the this path is another cyclops monster blocking your way
and more turrets on the floor and ceiling. Destroy the monster to gain
access to a tunnel going at a 45-degree angle upward to the right.
On your ascent, more enemy hopping pods from above and below will pester you.
At the top of the tunnel is another cyclops monster, but its eye is at its
bottom. On the other hand, it does not move. It fires electrical spheres
from it stationary position. If you have multiples, position them at the eye
level. Otherwise, you need to move your ship up to the left so you can hit it.
To the right of the monster is a gate that will begin to close. If it closes
before you get through, you will die because you will have no way out.
If you cannot destroy the monster, fly to the right and get through the gate.
Once you get through the gate, keep to the left until the screen stops
scrolling. The computer will tell you to destroy the eye in front of you.
Do so. Then, you will say goodbye to your mirror while you continue to travel
to the right. Fly underneath the huge brain and then up into the tunnel
opening on the right.
You'll fly out of the large enemy ship while it explodes into oblivion.
After you fly into the sky, you will be attacked by square-shaped enemies
like the ones right before you entered the enemy ships. They will appear in
thin air and try to home in on you. For reach one you destroy, it drops a
power capsule.
You fly over what appears to be an abandoned industrial complex on another
planet.
After the swarm subsides, the first mini-boss appears. It fires 5
indestructable small missiles flying in parallel horizontally. Attack
the front of the enemy ship. After firing a few volleys of missiles,
it will then try to fire one faster missile horizontally. The mini-boss
maneuvers quicker now. Keep attacking the front of the enemy ship.
Once the front is destroyed, you can now attack the core. The enemy ship
will try to fire a really wide laser horizontally. You can see the ship
charging up the laser so you have time to dodge.
After you send the mini-boss crashing to the clouds below, more square-shaped
enemies appear. Each one you destroy drops a power-up capsule. The second
mini-boss will ascend from the clouds to attack you.
This mini-boss extends 4 tentacles and spins them slowly around you. The end
of each tentacle will glow red before firing a small diamond-shaped bullet.
The mini-boss's core is blocked by 4 gates. If you have multiples, you can
position them at the core directly. After spinning the tentacles a bit, it
will retract them a little and spin them slowly. While the tentacles are
spinning, they will fire blue lasers. After firing a few times, it will move
to the right and spin the tentacles faster. Because the tentacles spin so
fast, the lasers will be fanning out, so you have to dodge in between the
lasers. After this pattern, it will revert back to the first shooting pattern
of shooting small diamond-shaped bullets at you while spinning its tentacles
slowly. It will alternate between these 3 firing patterns until you destroy
it or until it leaves.
More square-shaped enemies appear for you to collect power-up capsules while
a very large boss ship flies in the background from the left. It will appear
on the right.
The boss ship will open up its "arms" to fire a set of parallel blue lasers.
You can see the 2 cores that must be destroyed. Again, each core is blocked by
4 gates. The arms will close and the ship will fly vertically, fire 4
parallel blue lasers, move, and then open up its arms again and fire
its lasers. After doing this a few times, it will spin faster and then try to
ram you by flying to the left. Dodge this and left it spin back to the right.
After this, it will open up its arms, tilt in your direction, and fire a
lot of parallel blue lasers. Dodge them and continue attacking.
After you destroy the two cores, the boss will jettison the arms, regenerate
its two cores, and attach two new arms. Each arm has its own core. It will
launch its "harpoon" arms to the left. The arms is tethered by a laser to
try to trap you horizontally. You can get on the outside of the harpoons
if you're quick. Once the harpoons are in pace, the lines will move in a
sinusoidal pattern. It will send blue electrical spheres along the lines.
They will gradually get larger unless you rapidly fire at them to keep
them small. After this wave of spheres, it will send small blue spheres
in parallel with each other along the lines. The top sphere fires a blue
laser down while the bottom one fires a blue laser up. Then, the boss
will retract its harpoon arms, reposition itself, and fire them out to the
left again. It will repeat its attack pattern from last time. After this
pattern, it will then detach its arms, fly them to the left, orient them
vertically and launch its harpoons. It is trying to trap you in a small
vertical space. Again, you have the chance to get outside the harpoon lines,
but without multiples, you can't attack the cores in the arms. The harpoon
lines will move in a sinusoidal pattern while electrical spheres travel
along it. It will retract the arms and repeat the harpoon attack pattern
all over again until you destroy it or it decides to leave.
Destroy this boss, and it will crash and burn into the clouds below.
[10_stg2_vh]
Very Hard Mode by Jason (kendarin_bloodtear@yahoo.com)
The hatch you shoot away takes many more shots than normal. From
experimenting, it looks like you need to shoot a charged E. Laser
a couple times or have at least three multiples. Otherwise, it doesn't
look like you can blast out the hatch in time to prevent yourself from
colliding with the hatch. After further replays, with the normal
shot, no missiles, and no multiples, you do indeed need to hug the
hatch for a moment or two to make your shots register faster, or
you will not have enough firepower to destroy it. In all practicality,
this is not something you'll have to worry about; you'd have to do this
*intentionally*.
Turrets literally line the entire path of both paths of the first time you
see your multiple; while he takes them all out no problem, the help is
still a must. However, this can be hard to do, as you have an obnoxiously
large amount of enemies to contend with, yourself.
The enemies that bounce around and fire six shots in lower difficulties
now fire closer to about forty or so. I'm not kidding. Two or three
of them will fill a screen very swiftly.
The cyclops monsters now fire MUCH faster; their rate of fire is even
twice as fast as the first boss's rate of fire for its similar weapon.
As many as 28 orbs of energy will be on-screen at one time from ONE monster.
The first miniboss fires more than just blue missiles; there are three
other colors. Green ones trail diamond bullets, red ones explode in
sunbursts of them, yellow ones explode in waves of them that seek you out.
When it goes to its laser mode, it sometimes fires smaller lasers in between
charging. It also sometimes charges to the other side of the screen to fire